Religions 2015, 6, 1314–1329; doi:10.3390/rel6041314 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Article The Role of Religious Beliefs and Institutions in Disaster Management: A Case Study Kyoo-Man Ha Department of Emergency Management, Inje University, 197 Inje-ro, Gimhae-city, Gyeongnam 50834, Korea; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +82-(0)10-2511-2593 Academic Editor: Peter Iver Kaufman Received: 10 August 2015 / Accepted: 6 November 2015 / Published: 11 November 2015 Abstract: Religion in Korea has been shaped by its followers to a degree, but the role of religion in Korea has been largely unexamined. This study examines the role of religion and the incorporation of religious beliefs and institutions in the field of disaster management. In doing so, the study examines how three religions—Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism—operate in Korea, in particular in terms of both care-oriented management and mitigation-oriented management approaches. While utilizing descriptive research as a methodology, policy measures have been suggested with the support of theological perspectives. Despite some difficulties in making a generalization, the major finding is that religion has a role to play in supplementing care-oriented management, with mitigation-oriented management approaches, by better grasping the nature of a disaster and its effective management while responding to regional culture. In addition, the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, local governments, and other government institutions must play new roles in incorporating religion in disaster management. Keywords: regional culture; Christianity; Buddhism; Confucianism; South Korea 1. Introduction Korea has frequently experienced diverse natural disasters, including an earthquake and resulting tsunamis on its east coast in 1993, Typhoon Maemi in 2003, and a drought in the Gangwon area in 2009, as well as the issue of yellow dust as a regular meteorological event. The people have urged governments to more systematically deal with natural disasters, as well as manmade emergencies, in particular since experiencing the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 and the outbreak of Middle East Religions 2015, 6 1315 Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015 [1]. In addition, diverse religions, and not just one dominant religion, have had an impact in the field of Korean disaster management [2]. While reflecting that the case of Korea should be very unique considering its unique environment, we have chosen it as a study subject here. The role of religion in the field of disaster management in Korea is a pertinent area of research. Religion has both positively and negatively influenced its believers in terms of how they sense or manage a disaster. The international community has begun to show an interest in seriously studying the role of religion in the field of disaster management, when considering related topics in international conferences, related questions on the Internet, and the number of reports by the United Nations, for instance [3]. Accordingly, some international journals have, indeed, focused on examining the role of religion in terms of disaster management or disaster risk reduction [4]. However, no systematic study has been conducted to examine the role of religion in terms of Korean disaster management. Perhaps, many Korean researchers have not realized the relationship between religion and disaster management, while focusing on the physical aspects of disaster [5]. Thus, there is a clear research gap between the international community and Korea. In a broader sense, the present study examines the role of religious beliefs and institutions in the field of disaster management in Korea as a case study, working towards the ultimate goal of disaster management. Two approaches are suggested: care-oriented management and mitigation-oriented management. By fully utilizing descriptive research as a methodology, the study investigates examples of how three religions—Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism—operate according to the two approaches mentioned above. In so doing, potential policy measures have been emphasized with the support of theological perspectives. Despite some difficulties in making a generalization, the study maintains that the three religions have a role to play in supplementing current care-oriented management with future-focused mitigation-oriented management approaches in order to achieve the ultimate goal of effective disaster management. 2. Background Theories Webster’s Dictionary (2015) defines religion to be “the outward act or form by which men indicate their recognition of the existence of a god or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service, and honor are due.” Different religions have been introduced in Korea throughout its history. Disasters in this study usually mean natural hazards, but they sometimes include manmade emergencies when reflecting that natural hazards have always been interrelated with individuals’ social activities. In other words, there would be no natural disasters, if they were not to influence individuals. Without influencing humans, natural disasters would be called natural events [6,7]. There are two kinds of roles for religion; i.e., positive roles and negative roles. Religion plays a positive role when it encourages individuals or organizations to behave morally, whereas it has a negative influence when it encourages individuals to behave immorally. In having a positive role, religion encourages its believers to donate more than atheists. Religious people continue to donate, regardless of any change in their income. Hence, religious people’s social health, mental health, or mental rehabilitation is improved by their religious beliefs even during a disaster. Religious beliefs almost function like disaster counseling during the various phases of disaster response. Otherwise, Religions 2015, 6 1316 religious people’s beliefs may influence their understanding or response to a series of disasters. Further, many religious institutions have substantially supported disaster relief and recovery activities in communities [8–12]. On the other hand, religion also plays a negative role in the field of disaster management. Some believers are willing to negatively interpret scriptural phrases and, thus, commit to destroying religious artifacts, like terrorists in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In particular, religion has politically shifted the focus of mass media from disaster victims [13]. For example, in his TV program, the American Christian televangelist Pat Robertson said that the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010 was the result of a curse. A Korean Christian minister, David Yonggi Cho, said that Japan’s earthquake and the ensuing tsunami in 2011 were God’s warning, because the majority of Japanese do not believe in Jesus Christ, but in Buddhism [14–16]. Many management techniques have been used in the field of disaster management, such as emergency operation planning, hazard identification, leadership, decision-making, emergency information distribution, communication management, personnel evaluation, risk analysis, coordination strategies among multiple stakeholders, among others [17]. However, considering that disasters may happen within a short period of time, many management techniques have to be precisely utilized in a timely manner. Otherwise, those techniques have to be fully and wisely deployed to prepare for the unexpected, before it is too late. Globally, the religions have traditionally documented stories of disasters in their documents or sermons, but have failed to respond to disasters using scientific methods. Nevertheless, an increasing number of individual researchers have introduced the notion of religion in disaster, mainly because religion influences how people sense or manage disasters. Similarly, some international journals have begun to publish articles on the relationship between religion and disaster (or its management), such as “Religions,” “Religion,” “Public Health Ethics,” “Disaster Prevention and Management,” and others [18–21]. In Korea, although many believers have been consoled by religion before, during, or after a disaster, it seems that no official attempt has been made to examine the relationship between religion and disaster management. In particular, no explicit research has been undertaken to analyze the influence of religion on disaster, even though a few researchers have indirectly touched upon the issue in their articles [22]. In short, the majority of scholars have not yet placed any emphasis on the research of religion in disaster management, while the field of disaster management is emerging as a new academic area in the 21st century [23]. Thus, the value of this study lies in its investigation of the role that religion plays in the field of disaster management in Korea. Each religion is embedded in regional culture. In other words, religion is a vital factor of local culture. Influenced by culture, each religion views disasters by interconnecting with tradition and modernity to include not only ethics and traditional rituals, but also moral decay and materialism [24]. To elaborate, Greg Bankoff in 2004 studied that people’s reaction to disaster is much influenced by how they culturally interpret or perceive what they are getting through. Additionally, David K. Chester, in 2005, examined that when reflecting that local culture plays a key role in successfully responding to disaster in a community, that culture